Although the volume of goods and services bought last year was on a par with 2009, the value of spending by households was 8.4% highe–that equates to an increase of £938 per head over the two-year period, it said.

The figures are a stark indication of how Britons have been squeezed by the toxic combination of elevated inflation and muted wage growth–and one of the main reasons the economy has run aground.